German police investigate car found in Rhine and Cologne cafe shooting

Police in Bonn say they have been investigating the wreckage of a car found in the Rhine River in the Königswinter area this month.

The stricken vehicle was first spotted in early August as the river levels nosedived in the protracted dry hot weather.

Two weeks after it was seen, the fire department was able to recover the vehicle. Inside it, and near to it, the remains of human bones were discovered.

Police said they were trying to investigate the backdrop of the case, but said that as yet there were no leads on potential missing persons cases that could be connected to the car.

Police believe the car, thought to be a Fiat produced at some point between 1976 and 1984, could have been lying on the riverbed for decades. It was not yet clear whether the fragments of bones hailed from one person or more than one.

"The investigations are proving difficult, because it's so far in the past," a police spokesman told the German DPA news agency.

Königswinter lies just south of Bonn on the right bank of the Rhine.

Police cordoned off parts of several major roads in the south of the city center of Cologne early on Monday, including the Bonner Straße and other roads leading to the Chlodwigplatz square and public transport stop.

They were investigating reports of shots being fired at around 7:30 a.m. outside a cafe, and searching for what they believed to be a lone male suspect. They asked people to avoid the busy area during the morning rush hour.

Police did not report any casualties, but said they found multiple bullet holes in a cafe on Bonner Straße, as well as recovering several shell casings.

Police said they believed a lone suspect had fled the scene on foot. They said they were investigating the possibility of an organized crime connection.

The vibrant area around Chlodwigplatz is a short distance directly south of Cologne's main train station and cathedral, near the left bank of the Rhine River.

Several storefronts in Cologne were shot at during August, according to the local Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger newspaper. An unknown suspect or suspects shot at a jewellers on Keupstrasse on August 21, while prior to that a watch store was fired upon twice in a few days.